Machine for making clay tile, conduits, or bricks.



MACHINE FOR MAKING CLAY TIL'E, CONDUITS, 0R BRICKS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT- 30. 1914.

Patented Oct. 26, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

I I H W D. RAWLINGS.

MACHINE FOR MAKING CLAY TILE, CONDUITS, 0R BRICKS.

APPLI'CATION nuzo SEPT- 30, 1914.

' LWWWM, Patented 0ct.26,1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

avwewtoz 1 l l ll WALTER D. RAWLIFl'GS, OF ENSLEY, ALABAMA.

MACHINE FOR MAKING- CLAY TILE, CONDUITS. O13 v BRICKS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Got. 26, 1915.

Application filed September 30, 1914. Serial No. 864,342.

To all whom it may concern: 1

Be it known that I, WALTER D. RAW- LINGs, a citize of the United States of America, residing at Ensley, in the county of Jefferson and State of Alabama, have invented certain'new and useful Improvements in Machines for Making Clay Tile, Conduits, or Bricks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to machines for the manufacture of fire-proofing tiles, conduits, bricks, and like clay articles and its objects are to improve and strengthen the manner of mounting dies on the heads of such machines; to reduce materially the expense of their operation by utilizing a variety of different dies with each cylinder head, and so mounting the head and dies that the latter can be changed or cleaned with a minimum expenditure of time and labor; and the provision of mechanical means to take the place of the labor now required to straighten the ends of the severed tile.

The principal object of my invention is to adapt the head to receive anumber of different sized dies, and to mount the dies on the head and the head on the cylinder, that I can clean, exchange or repair the dies with but little labor or trouble and in but a small fraction of the time now required for performing such operations.

To illustrate what I consider the preferred embodiment of my invention, which comprises not only the novel details of construction and arrangements of parts which are hereinafter described, but also such modifications thereof as would readily ocour to those skilled in this art, reference is made to the accompanying drawingswhich form a part of this specification, and in which Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 22 of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the die and press head shown in Fig. 1 with the tile guides and supports omitted. Figs. 3 and 4 are detail sectional views on the lines 03-00 and jl 1 ,respectively of Fig. 2. Figs. 5 and 6 are similar vertical sectional views through a head with different sized dies mounted therein, Fig. 6 being taken on the line AA of Fig. 7. Fig. 7 is a front elevation of Fig. 6 with the guides omitted. Fig. 8 is a detail plan View of a guide with its oiling wick.

Similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.

I have omitted any showing of the press except the end of its cylinder 10 which has an annular out-turned flange 11 at one side with the lugs 12 which are perforated to receivea hinge pin 13. This pin 13 passes through lugs 14 on' the head 15 or 15* of the press and serves to hinge it to the cylinder so that it will swing open. Both the flange 11 and the periphery of the head are provided with registering slots 16 i to re ceive retaining bolts 17 which hold the head rigidly against the cylinder end which has a countersunk seat to receive it.

Each machine for making fire-proof tiling is provided with two heads, one having a die opening therein large enough to receive a die box for holding the larger dies for tile,'say between six and twelve inches,

while the other head is adapted to receivea smallerdie box for the smaller dies. For other machines a different number of heads may be used, but in each case it will be understood that each head is adapted to receive as large a number of difl'erent sized dies as can be practically mounted therein. It will be at once noted that in this respect I depart radically from the present practice where a separate head is used for each size of die and the head must be entirely removed and replaced when changing dies. My object is to avoid the unnecessary 6X- .pense of providing a separate head for each size of die and this I accomplish-by providing the head with a tapering rectangular die box 18 which fits snugly into a central tapering opening provided for it in the head and has a wide heavy marginal flange 19 which laps over and is attached by screws 20 to the inner face of the head. I provide the box with side countersunk recesses 21 to receive the nuts 22 for bolts 23 which serve to attach to the inner walls of the die box liners of hard metal. In Figs. 1 and 6 the liners 24 are shown of a minimum thickness, whereas in Fig. 7 a liner 25 having a maximum thickness for the purpose of forming the smallest sized die for the head is shown. It will be noticed that the tapering lugs 26 which are spaced apart and serve to groove the external walls of the tile. As will be noted from Figs. 3 and 4, the exposed face of the liner as well as the lugs 26, is chilled as indicated at 27, the en tire exposed face of the liner being in this manner hardened to afford the maximum wear. It will be noted from Figs. 3 and 5 that the holes for the bolts are brought in substantial alinementwith lugs 26 so that any slight defacement of the clay in pass ing over the bolt heads will be eliminated by the compressing action of the lug.

I provide the dies with different sized cores 28, according to the type to be manufactured and, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, four of these cores are mounted in the die by means of spiders 29. These spiders are provided at intervals with enlarged shoulders 30 which have a bolt hole extending therethrough. The two end shoulders 30 are connected to the flange 19 of the die box by cap screws 31 and the two middle shoulders are connected each to a core by abolt 32 which extends through the core and has its outer end screwed into the inner end of an elongated nut 33 which projects beyond the outer face of the core. The same description applies to Figs. 6 and 7 with the exception that each spider is provided with only one central enlargement 30 to support a single core 28, the cores here forming a single transverse series for making a narrow tile. The cores shown are of the ordinary construction used in machines of this character and when the liners, die box and cores have been assembled in the manner described for the purpose of forming a tile of a given size and design, the head is swung on its hinges against, and made fast to, the cylinder and pressure is applied to the clay therein to force it through the die.- It will be noted that the entire strain on both the die and head is carried by the fastenings of the head itself which is principally due to the arrangement of the inner lapping shoulder 19 of the die box and the tapering construction of the opening in the die box which receives the liners.

As the clay is expressed from the die in a continuous body, the latter must be cut into lengths to form the tiles. In Fig. 1 I illustrate formally a support 311 for the clay body. I have not shown such support in detail as it forms no part of my present invention, but I will state, as explaining what I consider as an important feature of my in- -vention, that, due to the continued move- .purpose but as they are well known in the art and form no part of my invention they are not illustrated. In the present practice however it is necessary by hand labor to straighten up the ends of the tiles after they are cut, the cutting wire acting to bend downwardly the unsupported ends of the clay body. It is an object of my invention to avoid this manual labor and to this end I attach to each core a guide and support for the clay. This support comprises an outer hollow member which tapers outwardly and has its outer face conforming in shape to and disposed in alinement with the outer face of the core to which it is attached. As a convenient means for attaching this support to the core, I provide the support with an internally threaded boss 36 into which I screw a pipe 37. A rod 38 is telescoped in the open end of the pipe and is threaded so that it can be screwed into the outer end of the elongated nut 33 and held against disengagement therefrom by a lock nut 39. A collar 40 is mounted around the inner end of the pipe 37 and it carries a set screw 41 by means of which the pipe is made fast at the desired point on the rod 38. The support is made hollow and is provided with a plug *2 so that it may be filled with oil or like lubricant and it is provided with a wick opening 43 in its top and bottom faces, see Fig. 8. A wick 44 projects through these wick openings and extends substantially across the top and bottom faces of the support so that by engaging the inner top and bottom walls of each cell of the moving clay body, the latter is lubricated so that it will pass easily and without sticking over the ends of the support. It is only necessary to lubricate the top and bottom faces as the pressure of the clay body is on the top of the supports and the tendency of the supports to give down takes effect at their lower edges. The frictional engagement between the clay and supports at the sides is negligible. It will be noted in Fig. 1 that the upper sup port is set back slightly below the lower support, the lower support being advanced approximately the distance which the cutter will travel with the clay during its down passage in front of the upper support, it being borne in mind that the cutter is driven with the clay while the supports are not movable. The object of this arrangement is to have the cutter cut the top of the upper cell when just beyond the top edge of the upper support and to strike and cut the middle web of the tile when it is just in front of the upper edge of the lower support. In this manner the supports prevent any sagging or displacement of the tile or clay body by reason of the cutting and no hand labor is required for straightening the ends of the tile.

One necessity for the manner in which my die box is mounted so as to overlap the inner face of the head, is that in changing from large to small dies the die opening is decreased and the pressure against the die box with its wide liners becomes excessive and were this pressure taken by the ordinary bolts which attach the die to the outer face of the head it is doubtful if the same would hold, but by my arrangement the head bolts 17 are calculated for the maximum strain and the manner of mounting the die box makes it fully strong enough to withstand the pressure against it, so that moreover by not relying on heavy bolting to attach the die or die box to the head, the dies can be changed without requiring the use of but a few retaining bolts to hold them in position in' the head. By hinging the head, when the die is to be changed or gets clogged, which occurs many times daily, the

head can be swung open by loosening the bolts 17, which can be quickly done and one man in a few minutes can either clean out or exchange the die, whereas in present machines of this character, the changing or cleaning of the die requires the services of three or four men from one-half to threequarters of an hour. In changing dies, the die box is disconnected from the head by re- ,moving screws 20. By this means access is obtained to the nuts 22 and they can then be unscrewed from the bolts 23, permitting the liner to be taken out and a liner of the desired thickness substituted. At the same time the cores are disconnected from the bolts 32 and the proper sized cores substituted. In many cases it is unnecessary to disconnect the spider from the die box, thus further simplifying the rocess of changing the dies. Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a machine of the character described comprising a cylinder, a die head detachably connected to the cylinder and having a central opening therethrough, a die box seated I in said opening in the head and having flanges which overlap the inner face of the head, and liners detachably mounted within the die box and interchangeable to vary the die, substantially as described.

2. In a machine of the character described comprising a cylinder, a die head detachably connected to the cylinder and having a die receiving opening therethrough, a die box seated in said opening in the head and having out-turned flanges which overlap an inhead, liners detachably mounted within the I die box and interchangeable to vary the die,

a spider having its ends connected to the die box, and one or more cores detachably connected to the spider and disposed in the die box, substantially as described.

3. In a machine of the character described comprising a cylinder, a die head detachably connected to the cylinder and having an out wardly tapering opening therein, an out wardly tapering die seated in said opening with its tapering sides engaging the taper ing walls of the die headopening and having an inner flange which overlaps and is connected to the inner face of said head, substantially as described.

4. In a machine of the character described comprising a cylinder, a die head detachably connected to the cylinder and having an opening therein, a die box seated in'said opening and internally shouldered to interlock with the head when subjected to pressure. from within the cylinder, said box having its inner walls converging toward their outer ends, and liners formed of tapering abut along their side edges to form a sec- .tional box-like liner which is held by its taper in said die box, and means to detachably connect said liner plates to the die box, substantially as described.

5. In a. machine of the character described, a die head, a detachable die box connected to said head and having an internal outwardly converging opening therethrough, and a liner for said opening in the box, the liner being sectional and tapering toward its outer ends so as to fit snugly in said box opening, and detachable retaining means to connect the liner to the die box, substantially as described.

6. In a machine of the character described, a die head, a detachable die box connected to said head and having an internal outwardly converging opening therethrough, and a liner for said opening in the box having its exposed inner face chill'hardened, the liner being sectional and tapering toward its outer ends so as to fit snugly in said box opening, and detachable retaining means to connect the liner to the die box, substantially as described.

7. In a'machine of the character described, a die head, a detachable die box connected to said head and having an internal converging opening therethrough, a liner for said opening in the box formed of steel plates which taper toward their outerends and abut along the edges and fit in said converging box opening, bolts to connect the liner plates to the die box, and spaced tapering shoulders at the outer ends of said plates,

ing disposed each in line with a shoulder, substantially as described.

8. In a machine of the character described, a die head, a detachable die box connected to the inner face of the head and having an outwardly tapering opening, sectional liners detachably connected to the inner Walls of the box, one or more spiders connected to the inner ends of said box, and one or more 10 cores connected to said spiders, said liners being removable and interchangeable without disconnecting the spider 0r spiders from WALTER D. RAVVLINGS.

Witnesses NOMIE WELSH, Ron'r. D. JOHNSON, Jr. 

